


Lechuza Renegade

by JauntyHako



Series: Pacific Watch [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game), Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Other, Pacific Rim AU, broken relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 06:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10406202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JauntyHako/pseuds/JauntyHako
Summary: Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison are the Jaeger program's dream team. No stakes are too high, no danger too grave. Together they can do whatever they set their minds to.Until one day, they can't.





	

The kaiju codenamed Rift emerges while Jack and Gabriel give a press conference. They grin and bear the questions and the jabs they take at each other, looking to the world like two good friends teasing each other.

Below the table Gabriel’s hands are curled into fists.

 

An assistant comes up on stage, whispers into Jack’s ear. Gabriel learns from the shift in his expression there’s been a signal. They cut the questions short, Jack smiles and makes a lighthearted joke and while the collective attendants swoon they get out and back to the Anchorage Shatterdome.

Helix Paragon waits for them ready to deploy. All she misses are her pilots who gear up in silence, no longer exchanging friendly banter or assurances of success. They stopped that kind of thing years ago.

“Helix Paragon ready to deploy.” the AI announces as their suits connect to the cockpit. They drop down onto the Jaeger proper, stumble at the impact.

“Initiating neural handshake in Twenty  … Nineteen ... “

Gabriel’s mind is on the mission, going through the briefing they’ve been given on their way here. It’s a category two, small but fast and it has almost reached land. The residents can’t be evacuated in time. They all rely on Helix Paragon to save the day.

“We’re watching over you.” Jack says to the cockpit camera, knowing the footage is being transmitted all across the world. They’re celebrities, Jack especially so. He can barely take a shit without some tabloid writing about it. Something twists in Gabriel. He refuses to call jealousy.

“Eyes on the price, golden boy.” he says and steels himself for the drift. It always brings up things he’d rather forget. His and Jack’s bond was forged in blood, the strongest kind there is. Or was, once upon a time. These days it’s like drifting with a stranger.

“Neural handshake in five .... four ... “  
Jack frowns at him but gives the camera a last wave before focusing on the mission.

“Three … two … one …”  
Something is wrong. The drift comes into view, memories rush past him but it’s wrong, he feels like he’s watching them from afar, he’s not in the drift, he can’t feel Jack like he used to. He’s alone.

It ends as quickly as it started, throws his mind back into his own body. They’re both reeling.

“Neural handshake: failed. Would you like to try again?”

“What’s wrong?” Jack says, distressed although he doesn’t show it. Gabriel runs a diagnostic on their system. All readings come back green.

“Reinitialising neural drift. Three … two … one.” Again the pull of the drift, then a sensation like crashing on the water’s surface, unable to sink beneath. “Neural handshake: failed.”  
The guys in communications panic. Jack barks at them to figure out what keeps them from drifting, no longer the composed and friendly boy next door. A meek voice calls over the comm, audible to Jack, Gabriel and every single person who’s watching on TV.

“The systems are functioning. You … you’re not drift compatible.”

 

A year and a half later the effects are still felt wherever he goes. Previously people didn’t think it possible to stop being drift compatible. It was supposed to be a lifetime deal, as sure and set in stone as someone’s eye colour or the size of their hands. The footage went around the world, dissected, analysed, discussed. Parodied, more than once.   
They both need new co-pilots, are grounded until they find a new partner. Gabriel doesn’t know if he wants one. Things with Jack had been bad long before the incident. They’ve grown apart, argued more than worked together. When in the beginning they spent every waking second together, in the end they mostly avoided each other. It’s a bitter aftertaste to a friendship given shape in a seven hundred feet robot. A robot they’re fighting over like children.

“People associate Helix Paragon with me. She and I are symbols of hope.”  
Gabriel bristles, has to stop himself from punching Jack out. He reigns in his temper, if barely.

“And what am I a symbol of in your little story?” He spits the words and then spits literally at Jack’s feet, who recoils like he punched him after all. He collects himself quickly, gives as well as he takes.

“Failure. Your attitude that prevented us from drifting. You’re stubborn, antagonistic and that cost a dozen people their lives. If Pinnacle Light hadn’t intervened in time ... “  
“Blame it on me, golden boy, like you do everything else. Everytime things went wrong in that cockpit you found some way to heap it on me. Now it’s my attitude? I’ll give you a fucking attitude-”  
“Reyes. Morrison.”  
They snap to attention, muscle memory overriding the wrath boiling hot underneath their skin. Only now Gabriel realises how close he and Jack are. They subconsciously moved towards each other during the argument, posturing and threatening without words. Only the Marshal’s arrival prevents fists from flying.

“I realise this feels like a custody battle in the worst sense but please try not to go complete Judge Judy, will you? You’re still rangers and are expected to act with the appropriate conduct.”  
“Yes, sir.” Jack says, ever the teacher’s pet. Gabriel grunts out the same sentiment less enthusiastically. The Marshal regards them both with a critical eye.

“Currently neither of you are ready to pilot Helix Paragon. You need a partner and I’d prefer you get one fast. Whoever is the first to show up with a drift compatible co-pilot gets Helix Paragon. End of story.”

“Yes, sir.” they both say, and eye each other. This has just become a competition. And Gabriel is as sore a loser as Jack is a winner.

 

Jack reserves twenty hours of drift time the same day. There is no way he already has a new list of candidates, but the next day he shows up with a dozen of his friends and burns through every single one trying to find someone compatible by pure chance. Everytime Gabriel walks past him he has that smug little smile on his face like he can’t wait to rub his victory in his face. Everytime Gabriel’s resolve hardens. Jack won’t get Helix Paragon if it kills him.

He’s more selective in the people he asks to drift with him. Jack may be fine jumping into the cockpit with any idiot but he’d prefer to have someone skilled and capable at his side. He refuses to take anyone lower than in the top ten percent of simulation scores but that gets him a dangerously low yield. Most of the potential rangers already have a partner. Those that don’t …

 

“Look, Gabe, you’re a great guy, no one says you’re not. It’s just ... ” His heart sinks into his stomach as this rookie squirms and shifts and winds around the explanation he’s gotten six times today. People think he’s an asshole. They don’t want to drift with him.

“Whatever.” he says, waves the rookie away and turns on his heel. Jack’s cruel smile burns into the back of his neck from the far side of the room.

Days pass before he finally finds someone who is willing to try. At least Jack’s tactic isn’t working out for him as he hoped, he’s going through more candidates than anyone else in the program but there’s not a single one who’s compatible.

But neither are the ones Gabriel drifts with, what precious few there are. Again and again he’s forced to listen to the AI telling him the neural handshake has failed.

“I know.” he grits out, curses the other guy out until he runs, damning him and every idiot who steps into that cockpit with him. Everytime he fails Jack gets one step closer to Helix Paragon.

He brushes the Marshal’s assistant off, storms down the long hallways with an expression that makes people jump out of his way.

As he takes out his wrath on the punching bags in the gym the nagging thought that kept bothering him since the incident surfaces from the general muck of frustration.

Maybe Jack was right. Maybe he’s the problem.

It took an open-hearted, sweet golden boy like him to cancel out Gabriel’s attitude and make them drift. He’s always been the one to start arguments under the guise of not taking shit but the truth he can barely admit to himself is that he’s just impulsive. He jumps to conclusions, gets easily offended, retaliates harder than necessary. He _hurts_ people. He definitely hurt Jack with the things he said and did.

 

_Jack waves excitedly from his lunch table. They’ve known each other for barely a week and already he acts like they’re best buddies._

“ _I saved you a place, Gabe!”_

_He ignores him, sits down at the other end of the canteen, just because he can. Jack stands there like an idiot, hand slowly sinking._

“ _Gabe?”_

 

“You Reyes?”

He looks up, sees a Ranger candidate uniform, the look of someone who’s not familiar with their surroundings and tries not to let it show.

“What do you want?” he asks, steps away from the punching bag to grab his water bottle. While he drinks you introduce yourself and explain why you’re here.

“I’ve been posted here from the Hong Kong Shatterdome. My orders are to report to you to test for drift compatibility.”

He gives you a once-over but there’s not much he can tell from appearances alone. All the other people on base he’s seen fight and train, had their simulator scores at least. You are an unknown. Although there’s more to it.

“Who gave that order?”

“Captain Amari suggested me.”

“Figures.” He had a feeling she’d be involved. Over five thousand miles between them and she still looks out for him.

“Excuse me?” you ask, confused. He sets down the water bottle, eyes the ring. There’s more than one way to test for drift compatibility.   
“Forget it.” he says and stretches, suddenly feeling a lot more optimistic about his chances. “Let’s hope this isn’t just a waste of my time.”

He steps into the ring and to your credit you follow without a fuss, discarding your uniform jacket and boots before taking up a defensive position.

“Best out of three?” you ask. He attacks without an answer.

 

Fifteen minutes later half the base has gathered around the ring. Neither you nor Gabriel notice. You exchange blows, dance around each other like it’s a routine you’ve practiced for years. He takes a jab, you deflect, counter-attack, he dodges. Sweat stands on his brow, he’s breathing hard, but you’re not in much better shape. He didn’t keep track of the score but he has a feeling you’re tied.

He moves in for another attack, puts you on the defense until you turn the tables and rain a rapid flurry of blows down on him that almost make him stumble. One of your hits goes too high, your defense weakens, he takes advantage.

It’s exhilarating. He hasn’t felt this way since the early days, understanding his opponent on a level that can’t be described, only experienced. You’re drift compatible, he knows it, you know it. Your audience knows it. You keep sparring just because, for the joy of having found someone at your level.

It’s that decision that costs him his victory.

 

“What do you mean he’s found someone?”

“What part don’t you understand, Reyes?” The Marshal sounds tired of a discussion that technically hasn’t taken place yet. He gestures towards the cockpit of Helix Paragon, currently occupied by Jack and his new co-pilot.

“He came in here five minutes ago, we attempted a drift, they’re compatible. They’ll be piloting the Jaeger.”

His shoulders sag. The Marshal hesitates, like he wants to offer a kind word but leaves it be. Gabriel has never been receptive to those.

If he hadn’t waited, Helix Paragon would have been his. He knew you were compatible a minute after you stepped into the ring. He should have gone to the Marshal right away, instead of fooling around like children in a sand box.

You lay a hand on his shoulder and to his surprise the gesture makes him feel better.

“Let’s get out of here.” you say and he doesn’t need telling twice. Jack will be insufferable.

 

You end up in a diner a mile off the base, sharing fries, milkshakes and disappointment.

“Would have been cool to pilot Helix.” you say, staring wistfully at the TV screen in the corner that shows Helix Paragon’s first drop after eighteen months of inactivity. People are cheering, Jack grins at the camera like he always has, pretending to be sweet and optimistic, but Gabriel sees the mocking glint behind the friendly facade.

“She’s not that good.” he says derisively. “She’s only a Mk 1, upgraded and retrofitted to kingdom come. Her chassis looks nice but on the inside she’s a mess. Half the time spent in maintenance the guys just try keeping all her parts together. She should have decommissioned years ago but people associate her with the program. They sink funding for three Jaegers into her just keeping her running.”

You hum thoughtfully, trace a pattern into the salt spilled on the table.

“So why’d you want to pilot her?”

The question takes him off guard. It’s not one he’s ever asked himself. Now that he watches the Jaeger patrol the coastline of Anchorage, he realises he should have. Ever since Jack and he stepped out of that cockpit the last time he wanted to be her pilot again, wanted to get back in there no matter the cost. But what he said is true. Helix Paragon is outdated, barely holding together. She’s not the most effective in combat, she’s not the fastest or the strongest. Every drop he’s been frustrated with her limitations, her slow reaction time, her lack of power. Compared to the Mark 3’s she’s little more than an oversized action figure.

“I guess,” he says and shrugs, looks at his milkshake instead of you when he comes to the realisation why he wanted her so bad. “I just didn’t want Jack to win.”

It’s a nasty thing to learn about oneself, his entire ambition based on pettiness. It proves Jack’s opinion of him, proves the others reluctance to drift with him. He’s a dick.

“You’re a dick.” You grin, hold up your hands in defense when his eyes shoot up. “Just sayin’, dude, you kind of are.”

Instead of arguing he huffs, shakes his head.

“You and I are drift compatible, what does that say about you?”

“That I like dick?” you suggest and he laughs loud enough to make half the diner turn and stare.

He hasn’t laughed like that in a long time and it’s enough to distract him from what’s happening on TV. It takes you, shaking his shoulder to make him aware. You and the rest of the diner stare at the live broadcast of Helix Paragon’s patrol. A patrol that just ended. She’s dead in the water.

 

“What the hell happened?” Gabriel demands, running to catch up with the medics pushing Jack and his co-pilot towards the clinic. The latter is out cold. The former -

“I have a nosebleed, for god’s sake, I can walk there myself.”

“Protocol, Morrison.” the EMT reminds him. Jack rolls his eyes, Gabriel catches himself doing the same.   
“What happened?” he asks again. Jack answers, sheepish like a boy taken in front of the class to be scolded.

“Connection became unstable. I was alone out there for a split second before I could cancel the drift. They’re towing Helix back to the dome right now. Something messed with the drift.”

“Maybe it had something to do with the huge bag of heroin we found in your partner’s bags.”

Dr Angela Ziegler welcomes her two patients with a frown scary enough to make even Gabriel wince.

“Your ‘friend’, god knows where you picked him up, brought hard drugs into the drift. Do you have any idea what could have happened, the consequences your recklessness might have?”

She directs her team to take care of Jack’s co-pilot and turns the full focus of her wrath against Jack. Despite himself, Gabriel feels sorry for him.

“I just thought … I knew he might not remember drifting, but I didn’t think-”  
“That’s right, you _didn’t_ think. This stunt could have fried both your brains. You’re damn lucky you got out in time. Prepare for a full physical and _pray_ this didn’t cause any permanent damage.”

She stalks out of the room, leaving Jack, Gabriel and you alone. Jack sighs, runs his hands through his hair and tugs at it briefly before letting go. You noticed Gabriel doing the same and wonder who picked up the habit from whom.

“Guess you won after all.” he says, trying his hand at a smile and failing horribly. It comes out as a grimace and he drops it quickly.

Gabriel doesn’t answer. He stares into nothing, acknowledging neither you nor Jack. Helix Paragon is in his grasp. In a few minutes the Marshal will come in and declare him and you her pilots. He won. Jack fucked up and it’s all on him, there’s no way he can blame Gabriel this time, he won, he has all the power and …

… and Jack sits on the gurney just like he did every day in the mess hall when Gabriel stalked past him without a word of acknowledgement. He makes the same puppy eyes he made everytime Gabriel told him he wouldn’t join him and his whitebread friends for movie night for all the money in the world. He wears the face of a beaten man.

 

When the Marshal comes in for a debriefing and dressing down, Gabriel tells him in few words they couldn’t pay him to set foot in that ancient bucket of bolts again. He’ll expect his own Jaeger, a proper Mk 3.

“Jack can wrestle with Helix for all I care.”

He leaves before they can ruin the moment.

“Smug bastard.” you say fondly, trailing behind.

  
  


Lechuza Renegade deploys for the first time seven months later, an apocalypse on legs, destruction given form, carnage in eight hundred feet of awesomeness.

Her pilots love her like their own child.

  
  
  


 


End file.
